In North Charleston, South Carolina, on the night of February 19, 2017, 21-year-old Ray Anthony Deas Jr. was fatally wounded in a shooting that also left another man injured. The incident prompted an investigation that led to the arrests of two men, Davon Laval Heyward and Dandre Levon Middleton.
Heyward, who was 37 at the time, faced a series of serious charges, including murder, attempted murder, a weapons violation, and filing a false police report.
Middleton, also 37, was charged with attempted murder and a weapons violation. The case against the two men, however, began to unravel as the judicial process unfolded.
In March 2019, more than two years after Deas Jr.'s death, prosecutors made the decision to drop all charges against both Heyward and Middleton. The primary reason cited for this was the lack of sufficient evidence to move forward with the case. The only eyewitness to the shooting provided statements that were described as 'inconsistent and implausible' by prosecutors. Furthermore, the prosecution acknowledged that they were unable to disprove potential claims of self-defense. The dismissal of the charges left the case unresolved and brought a halt to the legal proceedings against the two initial suspects.
